I guess I'll start from the beginning of the month and work my way forward. I got bronchitis at the start of the month. It truly was awful and exhausting. I woke up at about 4:00 in the morning one day and found it really difficult to breathe. And since I'm a pretty anxious person, I don't take too many of the things I find "off" about myself to heart because I just assume I'm being paranoid and wait it out. But this time was definitely real and not just my anxiety riding up - I literally had difficulty breathing, as if there was a heavy pressure on my throat and chest pressing down to where only a little bit of oxygen could get through.
I tried waiting it out to see if it would go away, but when nothing changed for about half an hour I was starting to really freak out which was making breathing progressively more difficult (and it was also becoming painful). So I decided to get up and wake my parents. I told them my problems and the only thing they could think to do was take me to the ER. So we left for the hospital a little before 5:30 and arrived, parked and got signed in by 6. We waited for about an hour and a half, only getting called to a side room to take my vitals and ask what the problem was - a question I got multiple times throughout the day, might I add.
At 7:45 I was taken back by wheelchair to get my chest x-rayed which only took about five minutes. At around eight they took me back to my own room where I changed into a hospital gown. Another nurse took my vitals, asked me what was wrong, yada, yada, yada. Then there was a lot of waiting and eventually my doctor told me that I had bronchitis and a pleurisy. I think they said my lungs were inflamed along the sides. By that point the coughing was starting up and it really hurt my chest.
I was released a little before noon I guess after they monitored me on the medication they gave me to try and ease the pain. I missed four days of school with no energy. I was a coughing, wheezing mess and my chest felt like it was burning. My chest has never felt so sore in my life and I was just miserable. My mom gave me a vaporizer to put in my room that made the air humid. She also put Vicks in it. The moist air plus the Vicks not only made it easier to breathe but also helped relieve the pain in my chest. It felt so good. I just wanted to stay in my room forever.
I'm just now getting my energy back that was completed wiped out. I missed four days of school, but I had the worst, full-on part of the bronchitis for about six days. I still cough sometimes and every now and then my chest will get sore. But at least I'm doing better. There weren't really any meds that could cure it, I just had to wait it out. Sometimes I feel like I'm still waiting it out.
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I'm a freshman in beauty school. I started out feeling so excited about it, confident that it was what I wanted to do with my life and just totally happy with how my life was turning out.
But that was seven months ago. Now? I'm miserable. It doesn't feel like a fun experience anymore, it feels like a chore. Kind of like a job you absolutely hate, but have to go to anyway. I'm not happy anymore and I'm not going to do something that makes me feel miserable.
So, after talking with my parents about it, I've decided to just finish my freshman year so I can get the rest of my credits for high school (I'm a senior and our beauty school program is tied into our school's district so we can get high school credits for it which makes it cheaper because while beauty school is usually around $16,000+ this is only $4,000) and then go to college to study psychology. I plan to attend a community college for the first two years and get an Associate's degree, then transfer my last two years to a university to earn my Bachelor's.
It was a big decision, but I think I'll be happier that way. I've always loved psychology and I find the human mind very fascinating and I want to learn how everything works and why it does what it does.
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Also speaking of beauty school, we had our 1,000 hour test out yesterday and today. Our test outs are pretty much like midterms. We have a practical and a written. The practical is where we perform things such as haircuts for our instructors while they watch and grade us. The written is bringing all the chapters we've learned together in a huge 100 question, multiple choice test.
I'll start with the practical since it was what we did yesterday. There are four sections to it: 1) thermals (curling the hair - making round barrels on the head that you'd see little old ladies wearing, kind of how perms look except they're made with an iron instead of perm rods), 2) haircut, 3) perm, and 4) chemicals (color and relaxers). Each one is timed. Thermals are 10 minutes, the haircut is 30 minutes, the perm is 20 minutes and the chemicals are altogether around 45 minutes. There are two minutes of setup time in between each section, along with a ten minute one before we begin.
I was having a nervous breakdown the entire time and was sure I failed (the lowest we can get is an 80% while anything below is considered failing - that also counts for homework, tests and our final grade. Everything has to be above an 80 to pass) but I managed to get an 86% and my instructor said I did good.
The written portion was composed of twelve chapters altogether, consisting of things such as anatomy and physiology, infection control, keeping a professional image, haircutting, braiding, properties of the hair and scalp, the history of cosmetology, etc. It was hands down the hardest test I've ever taken and only three people in my class managed to pass. I wasn't one of them. I got a 72%. We can only retake these tests if we fail at the beginning of our senior year, but since I'm not coming back, I don't have to worry about it. As long as I still pass by the end of freshman year, I'm good. Thankfully these test outs don't determine if we graduate from the freshman class or not. Our grades accumulate each month and everything's added together at the end of the month, so these test outs will just add to our March grade.
Needless to say I've been pretty stressed out this week. I've even broken down a few times because I've felt frustrated and tired, but beauty school does that to you. It's a lot harder than you think and there's definitely more than meets the eye, Transformers style.
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I got Green Day's live album "Awesome As F*ck" in the mail Tuesday night. It was about the only good thing to come out of this week and was actually the only thing that was able to calm me down. I watched the DVD and felt better. Only Green Day can do that.
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Anyways, now that I've rambled on and on and have practically written a biography, how have your guys' week/month been? Ready for summer yet? I am.